Sarabia's lyrics only lack the goal

Cornellà de LlobregatThe Eder Sarabia era began with the Basque coach in a stand at the RCDE Stadium and his assistant, Jon López, directing from the bench due to the one-match suspension that the new blue-and-white coach was serving. The perspective granted by the height of Cornellà-El Prat allowed him to scrutinize the strengths and shortcomings of a side unaccustomed to taking the initiative, which lacked a bit of ruthlessness to turn the good football displayed against Deportivo de la Coruña (0-0) into three points. It became clear that from now on the blue-and-white fans will be entertained, it remains to be seen if they will also celebrate victories. With the first diagnosis in hand, Sarabia now has two weeks of the international break to polish the details of a proposal that, for the moment, is more convincing in its play than in its results.

A new footballing dimension

The revolutionary eleven proposed by the Basque coach, with two full-backs -Omar El Hilali and Quilindschy Hartmann- playing as centre-backs and two wingers -Tyrhys Dolan and the young Alejandro Santiago- as wing-backs in a three-man defence, highlighted the intentions of a coach with very firm convictions and a brave style of play that was evident on the pitch right from the start. With more than 70% possession, Espanyol could have reached the first quarter of an hour with a one or two-goal lead. Deportivo were lucky to have the saves of Leo Román, who denied a goal to Roberto Fernández and to Alejandro Santiago. Between one chance and the other, the match was paused to remember Jesús de Miguel with a minute's silence. It was very emotional.

Pere Milla also hovered around the goal, one of the big new additions to the lineup and one of the most active players for the 'periquitos', who were very intense both with and without the ball. Both the forward from Lleida and Roberto lacked the accuracy to find the path to goal. Dépor, well-organized at the back, looked for a mistake from the hosts, but the fact that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started on the bench diminished their options to take advantage of the few concessions made by the 'periquitos', brave but not suicidal. If necessary, Àngel Fortuño, who remained in the starting eleven despite the coaching change, played long balls. Sarabia already explained in his presentation that, over time, he had learned that his footballing proposal admitted nuances.

Fatigue and the presence of Aubameyang, who came on at the beginning of the second half, evened things out between Espanyol and Deportivo de La Coruña, who did not give up on winning: the Catalan coach Antonio Hidalgo also brought on the former Barcelona player Adama Traoré, whistled at like Marc Casadó, to revolutionize his team's play.

Neither one nor the other, nor even Javi Hernández, the 'periquitos' top assist provider, had the impact their coaches imagined in a match that neither Roberto nor Marcos Fernández could decide in the 90th minute, in a masterful counterattack by the 'periquitos'. Between Leo Román and Villares, they frustrated the first triumph of Eder Sarabia's new Espanyol, which lacked the accuracy to win on the day of his debut.